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New Study Suggests Today’s Marijuana Is Too Strong

A new study finds that states where marijuana is legal might face a health crisis if they don’t limit marijuana’s strength, which has increased as cannabis becomes more mainstream.

The study, conducted in the Netherlands, examined the level of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) over a 16-year period. Researchers found that marijuana potency more than doubled between 2000 and 2004, followed by a spike in the number of people seeking treatment for marijuana-related problems.

It found time-dependent associations between THC and first-time treatment entry at lags of zero to nine years, with the strongest association at five years.

According to the study:

The number of people entering specialist drug treatment for cannabis problems has risen considerably in recent years. Across Europe, there was a 53 percent increase in first-time clients between 2006 and 2014, and cannabis has now superseded opiates as the primary